Because of the generally corrosive nature of sulfur containing compounds and their often harmful effects in industrial processes and on the environment, it has become desirable to monitor and analyze for sulfur compounds to determine the content and type of material present. Preferred methods of analysis are those which are rapid, sensitive and specific. Classical analytic methods for determining total sulfur content are generally unsatisfactory particularly since it often is desirable to analyze for specific individual components in a mixture of sulfur compounds.
Gas chromatography has become a useful tool for the analysis of sulfur-containing pollutants. However, conventional chromatographic systems have not been entirely satisfactory to analyze for trace amounts of reactive sulfur compounds since the compounds have a tendency toward adsorption on or reaction with the column walls, packing and components. Prior attempts at solving those problems generally have been directed to total system design to eliminate adsorption or reaction. Typically, total system design is very expensive and such systems are impractical for many of the sites at which monitoring and analysis is necessary. Even glass, stainless steel and TEFLON.RTM. polymer systems have not eliminated the problems of adsorption and reaction entirely and the analysis of trace amounts of sulfur compounds has remained a vexing problem.